Steph Curry: “Allen Iverson Inspired Me To Defy Basketball Odds”

It was announced yesterday that Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson would be joining Yao Ming, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tom Izzo in the 2016 Basketball Hall of Fame class.

Steph Curry spoke with Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com on how much Allen Iverson influenced Curry:

“He was a guy I loved watching, just his entertainment value and knowing his story,” Curry recently told CSNPhilly.com. “It was inspiring just to know that you can defy a lot of odds and be yourself while you’re out there on the court playing and changing the game. Everybody used to imitate his crossover moves, obviously starting with the one on [Michael] Jordan and every other one that he did in his career.”

Steph Curry saw his fair share of Iverson in his childhood days. He even got to see Iverson up close and personal during his most successful season when his father, Dell, fell victim to Iverson in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2001. That series “The Answer” averaged 33.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 3.1 steals a game in the seven game series.

“My dad was on that Toronto team so we went to the games, watched,” Curry, who was a teenager at the time, said. “You’d see him out on the floor and you just kind of didn’t think what he was doing was possible. His motor never stopped. His competitiveness and desire out there, he played with so much spirit and passion. You loved watching A.I. play because of what he brought to the table

It crazy how relateable Curry and Iverson are. It may be that Curry will end up being the better player in the end just cause of overall NBA success, but it just goes to show how much Curry emulated his game after him.

This tweet says it all:

Allen Iverson in 2001 was Steph Curry with way doper sneakers pic.twitter.com/Ufe3OdUDHY

— max (@MaxRappaport) April 4, 2016

Iverson and Curry are not physical specimens like we see with some of the best today (LBJ, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis). They are comparable in size. The same size of the guys you would play in pick up basketball.

Curry is the next player we will see that is comparable to Allen Iverson and 10 years ago, it would be crazy to think we would be saying this.